The Waiting Game

As I posted on facebook a couple of weeks ago, Hannah said, "Mom, I'm becoming a professional waiter", while sitting outside waiting for Nathan's flag football meeting and practice to finish up.  Ohhhh, the drama of flag vs. tackle football in the lives of elementary children...where do I even begin?  We have had conversations ad nauseum about whether or not it is necessary for kids to be signed up in all of these "extras".  Are they even "extras" anymore?  To me, it is incredibly sad that by moving here after the sign up period for fall football (January of his 2nd grade year), he might have entirely missed the window to ever play tackle football, but these are the types of things we've been told.  Another one: that the travel teams (basketball, baseball, soccer) are necessary to "prepare" them to make teams in middle school.  It bugs me that there seems to be an actual culture of fear among the parents that  "If we don't do ____________, then my kid will never _______".  Seriously?  Do we need anymore pressure? 

Between conversations about how involved my kids need to be in "extras" and how many parents are lining up to put their kids on waiting lists to all of the charter schools popping up around here, my head is spinning.  These are the times when I miss the "good 'ole days" of my own childhood....like the FSMS Cubs A, B, C, & D teams.  EVERYONE got a chance to play EVERYTHING.  You were breathing, you could play.  I hate that my kids are in this culture of pressure and stress.  (Although at this point, I must say it is the parents who seem pressured and stressed, not the kids).

 I also miss the less competitive and just to have fun atmosphere of "extras" at their old school in Belgium.  In this last year and a half of repatriating, I have been so overwhelmed and I know I have completely annoyed people with my constant comments about how different this world is compared to what we were used to, BUT IT IS TRUE!

There, I feel better now.

The waiting thing is not new.  Sarah is an expert at waiting in the car.  We found some new "ear muffins" while looking for something completely different last weekend.  We bought one set of monkey ones and one purple set because as we are smart enough to know it never works to just buy one of anything.  Compared to last year, Sarah's (and my) wait time and car time is minimal.  We just drop them in the morning and pick them up in the afternoon.  Sarah's 3 mornings and lunches per week are going wonderfully.  She is getting tired in the evenings, but really she's the only one who's struggling anymore.

This little girl was ecstatic to go on her first real sleep over with her own friend last Friday night.  She was ready to go on Monday.  The fact that she had a sleep over after a full week of school and was reasonably tolerable the next day is AMAZING!  She's so grown up.

She's actually the one we're waiting on more these days.  Mondays--gymnastics.

This was her first day of class during the last week of summer.  She is loving it!

Tuesdays--dance.  Both ballet and tap.  I have no pictures because I was entertaining this crazy little girl...

The door to Hannah's class was closed most of the time--probably to keep out the distracting noise of some people's siblings. ahem.  There was also some tap shoe related drama with one of the moms--the details I am unaware of--I need no extra drama in my life.

She wants to add Daisy Scouts to this very busy schedule and I'm only considering because her awesome friend's mom has volunteered to lead them this year and she has promised to help me out.  I'm worried though.  This is a LOT for a not quite seven year old.  I'm also just crazy enough to have been searching for a teach your child piano book online.  She's dying to learn, but the last thing she needs is another lesson.  I don't want to waste the fact that both girls love to play around on the piano.  I am so thankful my parents paid for my piano lessons and I hope to give them the same chance when they are a little older.

Because Hannah was off on her first real sleep over last Friday, Sarah decided she simply had to have Grace sleep over again.  We ended up with Grace and Tommy and even with four kids, I kept looking for the one who was missing.  It is still weird not having one of the girls at home.

This guy maintains a busy social calendar.  One so busy that during his game on Sunday he was more than a little grumpy and caused his dad some grief.  His flag football team is practicing just before their games on Sunday afternoons so his week consists of waiting around for his sisters (interesting turn of events), doing homework and actually studying for tests.  Today he has his first math test and his entire class got an A. Like his teacher said at the open house, having a ratio of 20 to 1 for math really does have its benefits.  This is his first year to actually have letter grades. 

The boy loves his football.  He also loves his friend Josh's dog.  This dog is awesome.  Josh's family also has a smaller, much older little white dog.  I think Nathan would love for us to follow suit.  All that hair...ugh.

Here is a glimpse of our Wednesday.  Another waiting game for two of them.  Pure joy for this one.

Another glimpse of Wednesday...another attempt at meatballs that we can all agree on.  This time I think they were "too big".  Oh well, we'll keep trying.  All this waiting is making us very patient.   RRRRRRRiiiiiiiiigggghhhhhtttt.